


Absolution

by miera



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-09
Updated: 2010-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-06 01:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko realizes he may not be the only one who needs forgiveness</p>
            </blockquote>





	Absolution

**Author's Note:**

> My first Avatar fic. Blame **havocthecat**. Zuko and Katara friendship fic.

"What did you do to him?"

As usual it was only after he spoke that Zuko thought twice about it. He should probably just keep his mouth shut and not make things worse, but it was too late to call the words back now.

Katara raised her head and looked at him across the tiny fire he'd created. He flinched back in automatic expectation of her anger. Only when focused on her mission of finding the man who murdered her mother had she stopped with the constant glaring in his direction every time he spoke, or moved, or drew breath within her sight line. Not that he blamed her, really.

But the righteous fury he'd come to expect was absent from her eyes. Now she looked... haunted.

She didn't speak right away. Zuko shifted uncomfortably. "It was like... it was like you were _bending_ his body."

Now she flinched, looking off into the night. The ocean hummed in the darkness that surrounded the small rocky island they were camping on so that Appa could rest. "Not his body," she muttered. "His blood."

Zuko paled. "What?" She could do that? She could reach inside a person and manipulate their blood?

It was a deeply disturbing thought. Katara could take away anyone's freedom, impose her own will on another body with a flick of her hands. The idea made his skin crawl.

At the same time, the warrior in him acknowledged the awesome power of such a skill. He could almost hear Azula's voice purring in cruel delight at the possibilities.

"I've never seen anything like that before."

Katara shook her head and swiped angrily at a stray tear that had escaped from her eye. "I didn't mean to. I swore-" She looked down at the ground. "I swore I would never use it again. Not after what she made me do."

Too curious to resist, Zuko moved closer. "Who?" He listened in silence as Katara told him of the crazy old woman who had discovered this skill. Yet another example of how Firelord Sozin's grand plan to bring Fire Nation "progress" to the world had destroyed lives and people in the worst imaginable ways.

"She took control of me. And then, she took Aang and Sokka. She made them... they could've hurt each other." Her blue eyes suddenly sought his, guilty and seeking absolution. The irony of that wasn't lost on Zuko.

"She forced you to do it," he finished for her. He knew Katara well enough to know exactly how she would have responded to such a threat. He'd seen with his own eyes what she could do when someone she cared about was in danger. It was one of the things he envied the others for. He doubted Katara would ever feel that way about him, no matter what he did to try and prove himself to her.

Katara nodded. "I had to protect them. But I never meant to use it again. It was awful. But on the ship, I was just so _angry_." Zuko could empathize with that feeling. How many years of his life had he wasted, wrestling with his own rage and his fury at his father?

Katara covered her eyes with her hand. "I wanted to hurt him as much as possible. I was like her."

"No," he said in automatic denial. Katara twisted away from him slightly and even knowing it was probably not welcome and she could snap his wrist for it, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Losing control in anger is not the same, Katara. You would never consciously intend to hurt another person that way."

"You don't know that," she spat out bitterly. He knew she was thinking of her mother's killer, probably the one person in the world who could be such a target for her. But Yan Ra was also the _only_ person he could see her pre-meditating such an attack on. Nobody else had hurt her in such a personal way, not even Zuko himself.

"I know," he told her. The conviction in his voice seemed to startle her. They stared at one another for a moment. Then she looked away and he withdrew his hand, feeling awkward.

"I won't do it again," Katara said, looking at the fire. "When we find him, I'll fight him. But I won't blood bend." Her lips trembled over the words. She'd sworn that to herself before, and failed to keep her promise. He could practically see the way she was doubting herself.

She continued speaking, as if to herself. "I thought I understood what Aang meant about not wanting to have that much power. I thought I was strong enough to resist the temptation."

And that, Zuko thought, was why he had faith in her. Katara would see that kind of power as dangerous, as something to resist, not embrace.

He thought of Azula again. The idea of blood bending in the abstract was unpleasant, and seeing Katara doing it was disturbing. The thought of Azula or someone like her – or his father – having that kind of power was too terrifying to contemplate.

"You are," Zuko said. "In fact, I can only think of one person besides you I'd trust to have that kind of power and not abuse it."

She tilted her head slightly, looking thoughtful. He knew without her saying it that her first thought was of the Avatar, but both of them had seen Aang in the Avatar State. Uncontrolled rage coupled with that kind of raw power was bad enough without adding an esoteric and frightening skill like blood bending to the mix.

Katara's expression softened. "Your uncle?"

He didn't answer, but he drew back at the sudden flash of sympathy on her face. Being here with her was his last penance with the group. At least he hoped it was. He hoped that by offering to go with her, to help her see this through, Katara would be able to let go of her anger towards everything he'd done to her.

None of which would help him atone for betraying his uncle. Zuko didn't want to think about that right now. He had no idea where to even begin on that score.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, then the wind gusted and the fire nearly sputtered out. He steadied it and Katara moved back to rest against Appa's fur. She curled up with her back to him, as she did on the nights when they all slept around the fire in the camp.

But a moment later she said quietly, "Good night, Zuko."

The words sent a small wave of warmth through him that had nothing to do with the fire or the giant flying bison snoring behind him.

"Good night, Katara."


End file.
